Robots aren’t taking our jobs — they’re becoming our bosses- Josh Dzieza at The Verge:
On conference stages and at campaign rallies, tech executives and politicians warn of a looming automation crisis — one where workers are gradually, then all at once, replaced by intelligent machines. But their warnings mask the fact that an automation crisis has already arrived. The robots are here, they’re working in management, and they’re grinding workers into the ground.
The robots are watching over hotel housekeepers, telling them which room to clean and tracking how quickly they do it. They’re managing software developers, monitoring their clicks and scrolls and docking their pay if they work too slowly. They’re listening to call center workers, telling them what to say, how to say it, and keeping them constantly, maximally busy. While we’ve been watching the horizon for the self-driving trucks, perpetually five years away, the robots arrived in the form of the supervisor, the foreman, the middle manager.
AI supervisors drive Amazon warehouse workers to injure themselves and gobble company-supplied painkillers to keep going. AI determines whether call-center workers have enough empathy in their voices. And home-office telecommuters have their keystrokes measured and are required to turn on their webcams to be sure they’re at their desks.